Ramblings of a Busy Pastor

It has been an unusually heavy season of ministry lately.

For instance, just yesterday, I dropped my nephew, Tom, off at the Minneapolis airport, and then drove the three hours home in time for lunch.

I had a chance to touch base with visiting friends from Iowa, before going to open up the church for an afternoon funeral.

I returned a phone call before the service -- and was gently rebuked for not "proclaiming the whole counsel of God." She suggested that I devote more attention to sermons on tithing. She's probably right -- but it was a bummer to deal with it before a big funeral.


The crowd of mourners was larger than any of us ever imagined -- hundreds of community people stopped by to pay their repects -- and their grief weighed heavier on my heart than I had expected.

As my departed friend was named Bob Burns, I dug out a couple of poems by Robert Burns, the Scottish bard. I was concerned that people would think that was corny -- but it went really well, and captured Bob's love for his precious wife, Nan. (My Luv's a Red, Red Rose. . .)

During the hour before the service, I received word that someone was asking for me at the hospital. A young man was involved in a tragic accident, which banged him up -- but seriously injured his passengers. He's carrying a huge load of guilt right now. I prayed with him, and tried to steer him towards Christ. He really needs to open his life up to God -- and thankfully, some good headway was made.

After the funeral service, I had a tense conversation with someone who was concerned about a couple of "issues" in the church (As long as you have people -- you're gonna have some "issues".) I thought he was making things bigger than they were -- and didn't really respond appropriately. I had to go back and apologize.

Then, after a quick change, I drove over to Minong for our picnic and baptism.

Returning at 9:30 p.m., I stopped back by the hospital to rejoice with a young couple over their newborn infant. I led the daddy to Jesus a while ago -- and I was delighted to hold the tiny one and pray a blessing over him. Now that daddy loves Jesus, the little guy is going to have a good head start!

This morning, it was up at five thirty and to the church by six -- which is my normal Sunday schedule. We had good services today. My message theme was Ecclesiastes -- but testimonies of the people took up most of the hour (and I didn't even get to preach at the middle service -- but that was ok. They were great testimonies, and we don't do that very often. I told them the testimonies were all a part of the sermon. It was great to hear our people put in a good word for God, and there were some pretty amazing faith stories.)

I also explained baptism and showed the video of last year's baptism. It was touching.

662 people attended our three services this morning.

After church, I prayed with several people, had a brief pre-marriage counseling session -- went home for a quick lunch and then, made it just in time to watch Hannah perform in Chequamegon Children's Theater's rendition of "The Wiz." She's an acting WIZ! It was a lot of fun!

After the play, I took Luke and Wes to a cemetery to look at a couple of interesting graves (much to their protest.)

We stopped by to see Sawyer, a young friend who had surgery a week or so ago, and gave him a gift (much to their joy.)

I don't know if this stuff is interesting to my blog visitors or not -- but it's all interesting to me, and it's my blog!

I'm reminded of the t-shirt that says, "Why Would I Want to Read Your Blog? You're Boring In Person."

I don't mind the busy seasons really. They make vactations even more delicious -- and we're going on vacation tomorrow!